


A Byte of Trouble

by fabricdragon



Series: Odyssey [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bad BDSM Etiquette, Bathing/Washing, Collars, Computers, Dom/sub, Dubious Consent, Extremely Dubious Consent, Fear, Hacker Q, Kidnapping, Kink Negotiation, M/M, Manipulative Relationship, Moriarty is Alive, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past blackmail, Rescue, Safewords, Stockholm Syndrome, Submission, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-22 07:50:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10692789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: Lloyd Serdon, computer genius and "minor Government functionary" was kidnapped out of his office by Jim Moriarty.  This is what happened to him.Remember the poor guy who got kidnapped at the end of chapter 20 of Tearing  You Apart?  this is what happened.  you do NOT need to read this to understand the rest of the story arc, but it may explain what is going on when he shows up again later.technically this takes place mostly after chapter 3 of the next story (Some Assembly Required) but it won't hurt for you to read it now.  (and yes, he's basically an AU version of Q in my head)





	1. Hostile Takeover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mickie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickie/gifts).



A minor government functionary–who in reality was named Lloyd Serdon, and ran the computers for most of the secure government–woke up chained to a bed.

“H– Hello?”

“Hello, Lloyd,” a pleasant voice with a hint of an Irish accent answered, and the lights came on.

Lloyd stared in horror at the man who had taken down the computer security on three of the most secure installations in England. “Oh, God…”

“No, but, as I already explained to Mycroft, I might be the Devil,” he smirked.

“I’m just a computer programmer! You must have better…”

“Not necessarily.”

“But you developed the God Code or your people did! I couldn’t–”

Moriarty laughed, “I never had any ‘God Code’, darling boy–I just hacked the people; you should know that’s so much easier. Do you understand how easy it is to hack the people when you swear up and down that nothing will actually be stolen?”

He stared at him. He thought about it. He sagged. “Shit, that’s good.”

Jim came over and sat down. “You’re the youngest, of course. Computers and all. Do those silly dinosaurs even understand what you do?”

“Some of them, a bit.” He looked resigned. “You obviously know who I am. Let me be blunt, I am a complete and utter physical wimp. I took self-defense training–I barely managed–and they tried anti-interrogation training and I flunked.” He didn’t look at Jim. “I’ll tell you anything. Just don’t hurt me. There’s a reason I’m not allowed out without guards.”

“I did get the impression; thank you for informing me, though.” Jim pulled a knife and started cutting the clothes off him. Lloyd squeaked and cringed.

“What did you think of what Mycroft did to me?”

Lloyd paled. “I don’t know the details. Please don’t, I didn’t know–” he started babbling and pleading.

“Shhhhh.” Jim finished cutting his clothing off and pulled off his socks. “I’m not going to hurt you–furthest thing from my mind.”

Lloyd was shaking violently. He was now restrained to the bed lying in a nest of his cut-apart clothing, facing Moriarty: Moriarty, the man that Mycroft–his fellow “minor bureaucrat”–had tortured badly for no good reason at all.

“I’ll tell you anything, really!”

“Bennison,” Moriarty said with a smile, his hand on Lloyd’s throat.

_My personal nightmare; of course, he’d ask about him._ “What about him?”

“How did he know that Anthea was meeting my Sebastian for lunch? And John Watson?”

“Oh, God… They were picked up by our men, they weren’t hurt, they should be in interrogation or… or out by now!”

“Bennison never planned on Anthea, at least, getting out in one piece: do you know she turned him down? Twice?” Jim said pleasantly, his hand still resting lightly on Lloyd’s throat.

“She did?!” _She’s dead, then. I wish I had her nerve._

“Mmm-hmmm. Recognized him as the scum that he was, I suppose.”

“So… was she working for you? I thought… I thought Mycroft…” He cringed.

“She’s actually appallingly loyal, both to Mycroft and to England. She has been reporting every conversation to Jack Springfield, Mycroft’s boss.”

“I suppose Mycroft told you his name.” He sagged slightly.

“No. Brian did.” At Lloyd’s blank look he said, “Brian Jeffries? Your profiler?”

“He’s dead…?” _There had been a chance he wasn’t…_

“No, he’s not. It’s so much easier to kidnap people if there is a body found in the rubble.” Jim smiled, “Now you: they KNOW you’re missing.”

Lloyd stared at him and then whispered, “Jack Springfield’s name… you got that from Jeffries?”

“Oh, yes, I got a great deal from him. I just wonder now if he didn’t tell me, or he didn’t know, that you were being blackmailed by Bennison.”

“If-If you… If you didn’t get it from him, how do you know that!?”

“Oh, Honey… I may not be in your league with computers, but I know people… and I’ve had my hand on your pulse the whole time.” He smiled, “That, and, with you nude, it’s easy to watch all your muscles twitch.”

Lloyd gaped at him. Eventually he shut his mouth and looked away.

“So what does he have on you, darling? It must be good.”

“It’s almost enough that I’m gay,” he muttered.

“Oh, don’t be silly. That? That’s nothing these days.” He looked thoughtful. “You were indiscreet?”

He flinched. “Got caught with some people I shouldn’t have, got drunk and high and talked too much once, got involved with a honey trap…”

“Oh, that must have amused Bennison.”

“He was furious, he agreed to hush it up if…”

“If you reported to him?”

“Yes.”

“Does he have sex with you?”

“He made me suck him off sometimes, just... just to prove he could. I don’t think he likes guys that much.”

“Hmm.” Jim got up and started pulling the clothing remnants out from under him and tossing them in a bag for trash. “I arranged a traffic accident, incidentally. All three of them were stolen away–along with a few of the men arresting them–and brought here. John and Anthea are lovely little leashes on their Holmes boys.”

He stared wide eyed. “Oh shit.”

“I got quite a few concessions out of both of them in exchange for returning their pets. Sadly, with so MANY of your people being dead or missing,” Jim smirked down at him, “they’re letting Mr. Bennison go back to work, even though he tried to kidnap Anthea–pardon me, ‘arrest’ her–without going through Mr. Springfield.”

Jim shrugged out of his jacket and undid his shirt cuffs. “So, Lloyd, how much would you like to help me take Mr. Oliver Bennison down?”

“What?”

“You hate him–and I can assure you that you will never go back to work there, so his blackmail on you is irrelevant–Mycroft hates him, and frankly I think he’s annoying. If all three of us work on it, I think we can bring him in, don’t you?”

“I–” he gulped, “I can’t. I really can’t. That’s treason.”

Jim looked thoughtful. “Well, technically. But then he already committed treason when he tried to get Anthea kidnapped or killed, and blackmailed you… So, really? Is it that big a deal?” Jim took off his shirt, which he’d unbuttoned without Lloyd paying attention, and carefully stepped out of his pants.

Lloyd could see scars on his legs and arms, and he looked away.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, Mycroft’s work. You should see the rest.” He made a face. “It’s messy: I’m having it tattooed as a cover up.”

Jim sat down on the bed and casually stroked down Lloyd’s skin, first from collarbone to groin, then from hip to knee. Between the contact and the fear, Lloyd’s cock twitched.

“You really don’t get out much anymore, do you?”

“My guards are assigned to me, at least two of them work for Bennison,” he said gritting his teeth.

“Oh? They take advantage of you?”

He stared at the wall, “Yes.”

“Pity that, when you obviously have so much interest. You’d think they would just ask…”

“Please don’t.”

Jim took his hand away.

“What?”

“You said stop.”

He stared at him. “I–”

“Oh, I could rape you–more likely; I could have one of my men do it.” Lloyd flinched. “But why? I’m never gratuitously cruel… All right, I’m RARELY gratuitously cruel,” he went on cheerfully, “but you know, I think you’d be a lot more fun if you were voluntary.”

“You think I’m going to WANT to sleep with you?!”

“Sleep? No.” Jim smirked. He unlocked his legs, and one wrist, leaving the other cuffed.

Lloyd grabbed the bedsheets and covered himself, trying to pull as far away as he could. “Yeah, no. Uh, thanks, but no thanks.”

Jim sat there smirking at him. “I’m willing to start by giving you a blow job. When’s the last time someone went down on you?”

“Are you mad?”

“Yes, several people have said so.” Jim laughed, “I’m also good enough to blow your poor little mind, along with your dick.”

“And if I say no?”

“I stop.” Jim cocked his head at him. “Give me a chance to prove how good it can be. If you say stop, I’ll stop. You understand you still aren’t LEAVING, but I won’t touch you. If you let me finish? You agree to give me one full night to play. Deal?”

“That doesn’t sound like I get anything from the bet.”

“What would you like? I already offered to let you help me get Bennison.”

“I want out. I want to leave.”

“No, no, you really don’t .” Jim shook his head. “Think about it. Bennison’s blackmail has to have a dead man switch, right? And your guards know… and, by now, they think you RAN, not that you were kidnapped. I bet most of them think you work for me anyway…”

Jim knew that wasn’t true, no one thought Lloyd ran, or worked for him, but the poor fool was so very gullible…

“Fine.” He sagged. “Fine. You go ahead and try, and I’ll tell you to stop and then will you please leave me alone?”

“Of course. Fair’s fair, you have to give me enough time to have a chance… Also, I want you to use color codes–anyone can yell ‘stop’. You get yellow for slow down and red for stop–green means go, of course.”

Lloyd nodded.

Jim attached his other hand over his head to the headboard, and then unlocked the hand from the bedpost. “Better movement, darling.” He walked over and put the key down well away.

“Now, let me explain the… benefits…” he smiled down at him, “to working under me…”


	2. Green, Yellow, or Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if you have a thing for massage or bathing, you're welcome  
> Lloyd is still terrified.

Lloyd closed his eyes and braced for the worst. _I survived Bennison–hell, I survived his pet guards–I can survive this_. Jim no sooner touched Lloyd’s dick than he stopped. Lloyd was lying there, shivering violently with his eyes closed, but eventually he opened them again. Jim was sitting next to him, not moving, looking at him.

“This goes a lot better if you actually USE the safewords, you know,” Jim said calmly.

“What?”

“Or tell me if there’s any way to make this better…?”

“YES! Don’t TOUCH me!” Lloyd practically sobbed.

“Hmmmm.” Jim looked at him. “Roll over.”

Lloyd did–he knew better than to argue: he’d tried arguing with the guards, and found out how badly they could hurt you without leaving any marks that showed.

Jim started touching him and he flinched, and eventually he cried, and then he ran out of tears and just lay there… and Jim still hadn’t … it felt good but…

“Are… Are you giving me a massage?” he finally whispered hoarsely.

“Yes.” Jim reached down and dug his fingers into Lloyd’s calf in a way that he was certain should hurt, but instead something was briefly painful and then he felt like his leg melted.

“Ohhhh,” was about all Lloyd could manage.

“Roll over again,” Jim said calmly.

It took longer because so many of his muscles seemed to have gone missing. Jim then started on his front. Eventually, more relaxed than he’d been in years, Lloyd fell asleep.

He woke up confused. He was in bed with someone, but he didn’t hurt, and no one was doing anything… The room was dimly lit by a lamp. Slowly memory started coming back… He looked down at the man sleeping in his arms.

He had both arms around Jim Moriarty– _I’m not cuffed to the bed?_ Jim woke up, or opened his eyes anyway; he might have been awake before.

“I cuffed your ankle. Having an arm overhead like that gets very stiff.” Jim rolled over and pulled Lloyd’s head down onto Jim’s shoulder. Jim was still wearing an undershirt and boxers, Lloyd realized.

Jim coiled an arm around him. “Just sleep.”

Lloyd somehow managed to go back to sleep. When he woke up he panicked at the empty bed. He ended up swearing at himself and trying to give himself a pep talk. _Now you panic because he’s NOT here?_ _You haven’t even been hurt yet–he hasn’t even done any of the things your so-called friends did! For Christ’s sake, Lloyd, get a grip on yourself!_ It didn’t help.

After a few minutes, Jim opened the door and walked in with a tray. “You know, this is familiar.” Jim laughed. “Anyway I brought you breakfast, or whatever meal it is… I work odd hours.”

Lloyd just stared at it: the food looked ordinary enough, sandwiches, chips, a plastic bottle of drink. Jim unlocked his leg cuff and nodded, “Bathroom is that door.”

“I thought…”

“Darling, you can’t even manage to say the word stop, much less use a safeword. I’ll wait.” He shrugged, “Plenty of time.”

Jim sat at the desk and put a laptop computer down and started working. Lloyd ate the food, and got up hesitantly. Jim didn’t even look around. Lloyd bolted into the bathroom and locked the door; he cowered in the tub, feeling completely idiotic.

After a while there was a knock on the door, and Jim’s voice said, “Lloyd? I’m going out. Don’t leave the room–the main rooms; you can leave the bathroom any time.”

After Lloyd got tired of the cold bathtub, and he hadn’t heard anything in a while, he slowly crept out. The room was empty, and there were new clothes on the bed: slacks, a polo shirt, underwear…slipper socks, no shoes… and a collar.

Collar? That means people hitting you and laughing at you while they raped you. He remembered some of the videos he’d seen–videos that before Bennison he’d thought were hot–of people tied to furniture and hurt. One of the guards loved them and always got… inspired.

He got dressed but left the collar just where it was, terrified of what it meant. He started searching the room–every drawer and cabinet had been emptied, not even a paperclip. There was a door out of the bedroom; it led into a sitting room. There were books on a bookshelf, but nothing electronic, and no phones–it showed signs of having been stripped, too.

The door out of there had a very good electronic lock, which he could bypass, if he had tools, or a computer.

There was a small kitchenette, likewise stripped, but filled with easy to eat food: apples, sandwiches, instant soup cups. All plastic utensils.

 _Fuck_.

He tried to read–the book choices were eclectic, to say the least–he made food, he used the bathroom, he took a shower, and he read more books. Eventually, he went back to bed.

He woke up after sleeping a long time to an arm sliding around him and someone pressed up behind him. He panicked.

“Shhhh… Shhh... It’s just me,” Jim said. “Here, roll over.” Jim tugged him around to face him and pulled his head onto Jim’s chest again. He lay there wide awake for a while before he eventually realized the man was just… sleeping.

_I’m in bed… with Moriarty… with my head on his chest… I’m going to die._

_This actually feels kind of nice._

Somehow he eventually got a bit more sleep. He woke up as soon as Moriarty moved, frozen in panic.

“Calm down, I haven’t done anything to you.”

Lloyd tried to think of what Jim had done to him and for a moment he couldn’t actually think of anything other than “you scared me” and a massage. He finally blurted out, “You kidnapped me!”

“If you like: isn’t it a bit more likely to say I rescued you?”

“Rescued?” _I’m fairly certain that’s not right._

“Well, think about what your life was like, and you know they weren’t going to stop… and now? You get to do the work you’re good at, and no one will hurt you as long as you don’t do anything idiotic.”

“You’re going to,” Lloyd said with certainty. It was inevitable, the man had a knife, and chains, and, and…

Jim shook his head, “I told you, you get safewords, and since you were so panicked I didn’t think you could use them? I stopped. Now how is that ANYTHING like them?”

Lloyd stared at him. He tried to say something, anything, but he couldn’t. Because honestly? At home, by now one of the guards would have made him do something demeaning, or fucked him, and …

“There was a collar,” he said shakily.

“Yes, there is. A very comfortable collar that says you belong to me and no one else better touch you.”

“What?” _Wait, that sounded different… Collars are bad–aren’t they?_ A memory of when he used to watch those kinds of videos and think they looked like they might be fun–before Bennison, before his guards–managed to pop up in his head.

“MY collar,” Jim said calmly. “You work for me, you do what I say, you get safewords–yes, even with me–and if anyone touches you, I will burn them to ash.”

Lloyd worried that this sounded better than his old job, he was fairly certain that wasn’t right, really. “Why? Did–did you do this with Jeffries?”

“No. Brian used to think he was in charge of his own life, so I had to show him he wasn’t. You already know better.”

Lloyd just stared at him. Jim smiled, “So, let’s go to the bathroom and get you washed up.”

Jim pulled him out of bed and took him into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth while Lloyd used the toilet, trying not to die of embarrassment. Jim didn’t look like he cared. Then Jim made it clear they were getting into the shower together and Lloyd balked.

“Did any of them shower with you?” Jim asked.

“More like shoved me into the wall, fucked me, and then told me to clean myself up.” Showers and the threats of what would happen to him in jail…. Bennison and the guards had made it clear what would happen the first time he had to shower, or even before, and how lucky he was they didn’t turn him in. _I never felt lucky, not after the first few days._

Jim stepped into the shower and tugged on Lloyd’s hands. “Come in with me.” He turned Lloyd to face the shower spray and Lloyd saw him pull off his underwear and toss it aside. _Right, scars, he probably didn’t want me to look._ Lloyd braced for the worst.

Jim put his hands up on Lloyd’s shoulders and… started rubbing soap on them? Lloyd wanted to hate it, but Jim washed him like he was a piece of china. Rubbing soap over him, rinsing him off. Jim’s hands moved all over him, turning him around–Lloyd kept his eyes shut–and cleaning every inch of him, but never doing anything else. Lloyd felt eerily cherished; it was nice, if still a bit scary. Then Jim washed his hair and gave him a scalp massage while he was doing it, and by the end of that Lloyd was hanging onto the wall moaning.

Jim guided Lloyd down to a seated kneel at Jim’s feet. Lloyd thought he would make him suck Jim off, but Jim just petted him occasionally while he washed his own hair. Lloyd tried not to notice how comfortable this all was, but he had to admit this was… nice… If it weren’t for the underlying terror, this would be perfect.

Lloyd looked up when the water turned off, and gasped. Jim was pulling a towel in to scrub at his hair, and Lloyd finally really saw the scars–and the tattoos that hadn’t been in the pictures.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, ugly, most of them,” Jim said idly.

Lloyd looked down at the floor, shivering. _Mycroft did that. Sooner or later, he’ll hurt me for it._

Jim started toweling his hair dry, then stood him up and toweled him off gently, leading him back out to the room. He guided him back down to his knees and just said, “Stay.”

Lloyd was still waiting for the abuse, when Jim came back and gently put him up on the bed.

“If you’d like to look, you can,” Jim said calmly, sitting on the bed. Lloyd glanced up. There was a script “M”, and the scar had a sort of silvery grey color; there were botanical tattoos, and spider webs, on one side of him, none of them near the M.

“D-Do they hurt?”

“Not much, anymore. My feet hurt a lot, though.”

“Your feet?”

“Oh, he didn’t show you those?”

“We got selected images from Jeffries, only,” he whispered.

“Did it frighten you?’

“Terrified me. If Holmes would do that… well, any of them might do that to me, mightn’t they?” _One of the guards had taken to threatening him with a knife recently, and Bennison had made an offhand comment about branding him if he didn’t get a report back quickly._ He didn’t think they would do it, they’d always been careful not to leave marks, but you never knew for sure.

Jim crossed his leg at the knee and pulled his foot up. The underside of his foot was scarred. Lloyd bolted for the bathroom and only just made it... He rinsed his mouth out and splashed his face and tried to pull himself together before he came back. He was halfway back when he realized he could have stayed locked in the bathroom.

_Like a kid? He’d just have you hauled out, and then it would be worse. The guards always made it worse when you tried to hide, or fight._

Jim was sitting on the bed, legs crossed at the ankles, feet off the ground, and now he knew why.

He dropped himself to the floor at Jim’s feet, shaking, waiting for whatever would happen.


	3. Up is down and black is white

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> good use of safewords, still not a good idea- ah well

All that happened was that Jim reached down and petted his hair. “They’re awful people, really, the people you used to work with.”

“Yes,” Lloyd nodded. _They certainly are_.

“Bennison is a bit worse, because he goes after people on his own side, though.” Jim nodded, “Mind you, they all like to hurt people.”

“I…” he trailed off.

“Come on, up on the bed. I won’t hurt you.”

Lloyd got up on the bed shakily. Jim had him lie down and started rubbing his legs.

“Seriously, Lloyd, I… won’t… hurt you. Now, I admit, I get into tempers sometimes, but that’s another reason to have my collar on. It tells me you’re my good pet who didn’t do anything. If I ever start getting worked up, you just drop down into a kneel and stay there until I tell you to get up, that’s all.”

Lloyd nodded.

“Now, I don’t think you speak too well under stress, so how about this.” Jim handed him a small squishy ball. “I want you to hold that… you can squeeze it if you like, they sell it for stress.” Lloyd did. “Now, drop it.” Puzzled, Lloyd dropped it.

“If you drop that, it tells me you want me to stop, ok?” Jim handed it back. “But do try to give me a chance, alright?”

Jim went back to massaging him. At least twice Lloyd dropped the ball simply because his hand relaxed, each time as soon as Jim noticed he stopped. He wouldn’t start again until Lloyd picked it back up and squeezed it once.

Lloyd actually started feeling very secure. The idea that Jim stopped–even though, honestly, dropping it was by accident–was reassuring, and there was something comforting about not having to say anything. He’d always preferred chatting online to face-to-face, anyway.

Jim leaned down and licked at Lloyd’s thigh. Lloyd’s hand twitched; he thought about it, and he tensed, but he held onto the ball. Jim moved up and licked at his dick. It felt nice, but it wasn’t overwhelming, just a bit odd, and none of the men had ever done that to him–they wouldn’t demean themselves.

Jim kept licking him, and kissing him eventually, around his groin, over his stomach, back to his dick, around his balls. Eventually, he started doing more than licking… but, by that point, any thought of stopping was pretty far from Lloyd’s mind.

Jim was halfway through the blow job when Lloyd accidentally dropped the ball. Jim smiled, knowing he didn’t actually want Jim to stop, and stopped. Lloyd moaned and looked at him in confusion.

“You said stop.”

“N-No, I want…”

Jim handed him the ball back. “You said stop, so I stopped.”

Lloyd stared at it, stared at Jim, stared back at the ball. He carefully handed it to Jim. “Please?”

“I want to hear you say it.”

“G-Green?”

“Good boy.” Jim went back to work. It didn’t take long to reduce Lloyd to a sobbing, moaning wreck. Jim didn’t keep him hanging long and let him come, turning and nuzzling into him until he came back down.

“We’ll come up with a better nonverbal safeword.” Jim smiled, “One you can’t drop by accident.”

When Lloyd looked a bit more coherent, he had him clean up, and held out his collar. “I want you to put this on. I won’t force it on you.”

Lloyd took it and looked at it. It had a tag bolted onto the leather, with a J and an M intertwined, with a crown. It also had a tag like a dog tag hanging from one of the rings, which said “Do not touch w/o permission.”

Lloyd stared at it and looked up at Jim. “Do you mean it? No one will…?”

“I’d skin them,” Jim said pleasantly.

“And I don’t have to? With anyone?”

“Not even with me, although I would like to.”

Lloyd looked down and with fumbling fingers put the collar on. Jim helped him to adjust it so it was snug but not tight.

“Good boy,” Jim said warmly. _It was always so much better when they did it themselves…_

“Now, if you get dressed, I’ll introduce you to my senior staff so they know who you are. Then we can get you settled to do some work, alright?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Lloyd got dressed and Jim led him out. There was a huge man, who looked like he could take out half the guards right outside. _That must be Sebastian, the scary one–the one he threatened Holmes with_.

“Sebie, dear? This is Lloyd. Lloyd works for me and no one is allowed to touch him without permission, clear?”

Sebastian looked dubious. “Yes, Sir. You’re sure? We haven’t had him that long…”

Lloyd shrank into Jim’s side as much as he could.

“Lloyd?” Jim gently pressed down on his shoulder; Lloyd sank down to kneel next to Jim. Sebastian stared at him in shock, and looked back at Jim. Jim smiled down at Lloyd and petted his hair.

Lloyd felt concerned, and embarrassed, but he REALLY didn’t want any of the guards to hurt him, and this guy was huge. Jim petted his hair, and then told him to get back up. He didn’t see Jim signal Sebastian to be quiet.

They went into the rest of the house. Jim sent Sebastian out to get some more of the guards.

“Now, Lloyd, here’s a pillow: I want you to just settle there next to my chair and be comfortable, okay? You don’t have to say anything, or even look at anyone.”

It was a bit of a relief, actually, to know that. He knelt on the pillows and let Jim keep petting his hair, and running a hand down his neck. Sebastian got a lot of the guards in, Lloyd mostly counted feet, he didn’t even look up, he was so scared. It reminded him far too much of when Bennison handed him over to his guards. _Jim said they can’t touch me, he promised…_

“This is Lloyd: he’s a new employee,” Jim said, petting his neck. “He will need an escort if he goes outside or anyplace unsecure, but that’s just because people might try to damage him, or steal him. He’s **mine**.” Jim’s voice got an edge at that. “If he is to be punished or disciplined, it goes through me or Sebastian–ONLY through me or Sebastian.” He tugged gently on Lloyd’s hair. “Look at me–you can ignore them, but I need you to look up at me.”

Lloyd looked up; Jim was smiling down at him and rubbed a thumb across his cheek. “Good boy.”

He let him look down again. “That’s all. Back to work.” Everyone filed out. _Oh, thank God._

Sebastian spoke up, “Can we put your things back in your room?”

“Yes. Lloyd will also need a room of his own.” Lloyd’s head snapped up at that, but, before he said anything, Jim continued, “He’ll want a room he can lock–with his own bathroom, Sebie. We should be able to manage that here, shouldn’t we?” Lloyd couldn’t believe it, he almost fainted with relief; as it was, Jim’s hand stroked down his neck and he felt himself lean into it.

“If you say so, Sir.”

“Let me know when it’s set up.”

He knelt there, leaning on the side of the chair, while Jim petted his hair and stroked his neck. Every now and then Jim tugged on his collar lightly, but after the first few times it stopped bothering him. Eventually he started finding the gentle tug on his collar comforting.

“Lloyd?”

“Mm?”

“You are not to go outside, or open any windows or blinds–that’s because of the CCTV–and you are not to try to make any contact out without checking with me. Clear?” Jim put his hand to Lloyd’s cheek.

“Mm,” he nodded, leaning into the hand.

After a while, Sebastian came and said his room was ready. They went upstairs and into a small room with a bed, a dresser, a small refrigerator and a desk; one door was open to a closet, and one to a bathroom.

“Now, see? This room has a bolt: you can lock it,” Jim said softly. “But if Sebastian or I call you, you have to come out, or at least unlock it. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” He was pathetically grateful.

“We’ll get you some things, more books, more clothes, eventually your own computers so you can work. For right now, I left you a few books and I have to go deal with some things, okay? I’ll come get you later.”

~

He nodded, and they went out. They both heard the bolt slide closed as soon as they were clear. Jim held a finger to his lips until they were well away.

“Is that for REAL?” Sebastian spluttered.

“They broke him. The idiots BROKE him!” Jim looked half amused and half furious. “He was being blackmailed by Bennison, and occasionally assaulted by him, and he assigned guards to him and let them rape him… I don’t have to break him Sebie–they did it FOR me! It’s like trying to tame a scared bird or something.”

Jim snorted and shook his head. “Seriously, he didn’t even TRY to fight back; the closest he came to it was hiding in the bathroom while we stripped the room.”

“Shit, really? So we don’t have to soften him up at all? Not even a controlled break down?” Sebastian looked back toward the room.

“Nope. He’s a wreck.” Jim sighed. “I have to get him to misbehave somehow so he can find out I don’t punish him that way. After that?” Jim laughed, “I’ll own his soul, I swear. He already thinks his supposed allies are the devil; I’ll have him convinced I’m an angel, no matter what.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are gold, of course.


	4. The Devil Has Better Tailors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you escape from your own personal Hell... this looks like heaven, or close enough.

Jim gave Lloyd every opportunity to bolt–he didn’t. He gave him shoes–nothing. Jim made a point of going “away” for a day with some of his guards–Lloyd refused to leave his room until Jim came back.

“Did you ever think it would be this hard to get a man to try to run?” Jim asked Sebie. Sebastian just shook his head.

Jim went down on Lloyd a few more times, reducing him to a puddle with ease, and Lloyd was happy to kiss or cuddle, but any attempt to have Lloyd give Jim a blow job, or engage in penetration, led to him safe wording within seconds.

_Sigh._

Jim finally gave him computer access less than a week after he woke up–in Jim’s room, of course.

“Here’s your computer, Lloyd. Just to start, I’d like you to work on–“ Jim gave him detailed instructions, including that he was not to go anywhere near his old government webpages or access, and he was not to send any outgoing information or messages without clearing it first. Once Lloyd was set up with a user name and new email, Jim left.

His in-house computer expert, Julie, was frowning by the time he caught up with her.

“Problem?” Jim asked hopefully.

“Yeah–errr… Yes, Sir.” She sighed. “He’s out of my league.”

“Slipped the leash already?”

“I have no idea; he blew through my tracking programs and the security in the first few minutes. All I have going on now is keystroke logging–mostly because I don’t think he cares.”

“What’s he doing?”

“I know he was going through news sites. I THINK he hacked the CCTVs–“

Jim stared, “Already? And you don’t KNOW?”

She looked apologetic. “He’s using scripts he had stashed in cloud storage. He’s doing things with keystrokes that don’t tell me anything. Sorry, Sir.”

Jim walked back over into his room. Lloyd was sitting happily in front of the computer with a cup of coffee and several tabs open. He didn’t notice when Jim took up a position behind him.

Jim stared. MI6 and the Secret Security files were open in front of him; Lloyd was digging into Bennison’s finances and watching people through the cameras in Mycroft’s building.

 _He…_ Jim checked his watch. _It wasn’t even two hours. They’d changed all the passwords, and I hadn’t given him any of my people’s access…_

Jim carefully moved the coffee further away.

“Lloyd?”

“Hmm?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to go there just yet?”

Lloyd froze. His head snapped back at Jim, then to the computer; his mouth dropped open and he started babbling, “Oh, God I forgot, I just forgot! I’m sorry!–“

Jim tugged him away by his collar. Lloyd continued to babble; Jim hushed him.

“Now, you know I have to punish you for that,” Jim said gently. Lloyd collapsed.

Jim just closed the laptop and took Lloyd over to a chair. “Did you intend to disobey? You said you forgot?”

He was shuddering and cringing.

“I’m going to assume you didn’t intend to cause a problem, then,” Jim nodded. “Stand up and bend over, put your hands on the chair.”

Lloyd did. He was clearly expecting to be raped. Jim simply swatted him five times across the ass and told him to get up. Lloyd didn’t move.

“I said you can get up and go back to your computer.” Jim sighed, “I need you to show me what you’ve done.”

Lloyd stood up slowly, looking at Jim in a sort of stunned fashion. “That’s it?”

“Now you have to tell me what you did,” Jim repeated.

“That’s all?!”

“Would it make you happier if I spanked you more?”

“You’re not… not going to make me?”

Jim raised an eyebrow. He walked up and tapped the tag hanging from Lloyd’s collar. “You would have to do something deliberately disobedient, knowing it would cause trouble, to go there, Pet.”

“Your reputation…” He ducked his head, “People die, a lot.”

“Do I need to kill you for breaking into your old offices?”

Lloyd shook his head.

“So show me what you did.”

Lloyd went over each point of vulnerability, each access. After a very short while, Jim had to call in Julie because he was lost. She and Lloyd spoke in Geek–not Greek; he knew Greek–for a while, with Julie looking alternately annoyed and worshipful at Lloyd. Jim eventually managed to get that there was no security breach on their end, at least.

“I promise you two will have a play date, alright? But it’s dinner time.” He looked at Lloyd thoughtfully. “Would you like to have dinner with me? I’m eating in the dining room today.”

The look on Lloyd’s face said very clearly that he was hoping he was forgiven. “Yes, Sir.”

“I have guests–” Jim paused as Lloyd whimpered and cringed. Julie looked alarmed. “Julie, Lloyd was horribly mistreated by the nasty people we rescued him from: he’s a bit twitchy. Run along and let me settle him down.” She looked dubious but nodded and went out.

“Lloyd? What does your tag say?”

“N-no one can touch me without your permission.”

“And I TOLD you that you would have to do something really awful to be punished like that. If you were in that much trouble, I would have told you, honey.” Jim put all the reassurance he could into his voice.

“You won’t…?” Lloyds voice shook.

Jim ran a hand across Lloyd’s cheek, down his neck, and over his shoulder, lightly; Lloyd dropped to his knees. “Now, see? You’re a good pet: I have no reason to punish you like that, darling. I have business guests for dinner. Now, I want you to change clothes and be pretty, but that’s just bragging–I can touch you and they can’t.”

“I’m not…”

“I think you’re very attractive Lloyd, but I admit my taste in men runs to brains over anything–still… other people set great store by pretty.” Jim helped him up. “There are clothes in your room, dear: go get showered and changed.”

Jim got dressed and got a few things, including a computer, for Lloyd, and gave special instructions to his guards. Sebastian watched him with curiosity. “Sir?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you sure you can trust him?”

“Not yet, Sebie, but even as twitchy as he is, he wouldn’t try anything in front of company–he’s too scared of them. He’ll be on his very best behavior.”

Sebastian just nodded dubiously and took up his position.

Jim was impressed despite himself when he saw Lloyd all cleaned up. “You dress up nicely, darling,” Jim smiled at him and clipped a leash onto his collar. “Just remember: as far as the company is concerned, you’re strictly ornamental.”

Lloyd twitched when they went in and he saw the guests. Jim tugged on his collar to reassure him and guided him to the pillow next to the chair. Lloyd took his place kneeling by Jim’s side without a murmur, happy to be petted. Jim hadn’t had time to train Lloyd properly but Lloyd was a natural at it, taking food off his fingers or fork, and leaning into his knee. Jim found himself taking notes. _Honestly, by comparison my cowed submissive act was ridiculously stiff._

Jim was darkly amused by the fact that a few of his dinner guests looked horribly uncomfortable watching him pet Lloyd’s head and hand feed him. One of them looked intrigued and quietly asked if he was for sale, at which point poor Lloyd almost had a panic attack.

“Shh, shhh,” Jim murmured down at Lloyd and looked over smiling at the man. “Oh certainly not. My pet is an absolute treasure.”

“He looks it,” the man nodded. Jim made a note to talk to him later.

One of the uncomfortable men, after dinner, when they were starting to discuss business, asked Jim if his pet was going to be sent out of the room.

“If I wanted my pet sent out of the room I would send him,” Jim said idly. “Why?”

“Isn’t this supposed to be secure?”

Jim just looked at him coolly, “Are you questioning how I do business? I seem to recall making you a few million last week.” Jim shrugged. “Here, Pet,” he said, handing him a laptop far superior to the one he had been given before. “Play a few games.”

When Lloyd opened it, the text read, “Track anything you can that they talk about. The more you can hack, the better–don’t get caught.”

Lloyd smiled and settled down happily.

Several hours later Jim dismissed them, letting his people escort them away. Jim smiled down at Lloyd, “Well?”

Lloyd looked up happily and showed him. Jim almost choked: Lloyd had not only hacked most of their business accesses, he’d planted tracking software into most of their phones.

“Lloyd, forgive me, I underestimated you,” Jim said, staring at the results. Lloyd blushed. “I’ll get a small note pad computer from now on so you can send me updates without alerting the guests–would you like that?”

Lloyd nodded.

“Well, you’re due a reward, darling. What would you like?”

“Could… Could I do some shopping?”

“Certainly. I’ll give you an address for shipping things to. Anything else?”

Lloyd shook his head.

~

It took three days–and the delivery of an insanely large shipment of computer parts, games, books, and so on–before Lloyd stopped waiting for Jim to punish him–before he realized that the only things really keeping him from leaving were the people he used to work for.

He started tentatively exploring the house–no one stopped him.

Then he found the dungeons, and saw Sebastian, stripped to the waist, with a woman restrained. She didn’t look like this was fun at all–in fact, she was begging for him to stop. He froze in terror and was about to run when Jim’s soft voice said, “Lloyd? Come over here and sit down.”

 _Jim? Jim was sitting there watching this?_ Jim turned soft eyes and a smile on him and held out his hand. Lloyd walked over, shaking.

“Sebastian? Shut her up for a minute?” Sebastian was already gagging her.

Jim reached out and petted his hair. Sebastian–sweaty and still marked with blood–found him a pillow and put it down next to Jim. He cowered onto it.

Sebastian just looked at Jim with an eyebrow raised.

“Now Lloyd? What did I tell you? YOU are mine. As long as you don’t do anything deliberately wrong, nothing truly bad will ever happen to you.”

“But–” he looked at the woman half unconscious in the restraints.

“She disobeyed a direct order–she disobeyed and tried to hide it–and then rather than face up to that she tried to go over to one of my opponents. You would never do that!”

 _Disobey? Try to betray him?_ “Why? Why would she?”

“Some people are just appallingly stupid, I suppose,” Jim said kindly. “Nothing like that ever happens to people who help me. The very worst thing I do to them is shoot them.”

Sebastian looked startled; he obviously hadn’t expected Jim to say that.

“Why would you shoot someone who helps you?” Lloyd frowned.

“To keep them from falling into the hands of someone like Bennison, or getting questioned by someone like Holmes,” Jim said calmly. “Most people couldn’t take what happened to me, after all, or what happened to you–they’d crack. Sometimes I shoot people to spare them that.”

“Would you shoot me?” Lloyd asked worriedly.

“If I could, I would rescue you–so I’ll teach you what to do if they ever catch you to stay safe until I can get you–but if I couldn’t rescue you? Yes, I would have you killed.”

~

Sebastian was waiting. _Obviously they would have to take Serdon down–pity._

Lloyd took Jim’s hand and kissed it. “Thank you.”

Jim just smiled, “Of course, Lloyd. Wait for me in my room, darling pet, I’ll be along shortly.”

Lloyd went out. The door closed behind him. Jim’s quiet, soft smile turned into an evil grin and then a laugh.

Sebastian looked awed, “Damn. I would have sworn you were going to lose him, Sir.”

Jim waved at the woman, “Finish softening her up Sebastian, I have a pet to go tend to… That’s the problem when the side of the Angels employs Demons and Devils: they end up making me look good.”

Sebastian nodded at him. “Well, Sir, you always LOOK good.”

“Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven, Sebastian.” Jim laughed as he walked out. “We have better tailors; and I don’t look GOOD–I look fantastic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally the end of this short background, plus an epilogue... but...   
> You may certainly stop here, and understand everything you ever needed to know about Lloyd...or continue to the next chapter (and then a short epilogue)  
> Merry Mayday, Happy Beltaine.


	5. Debts and Repayments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Lloyd, start to finish this has really been VERY little time... but his head is all turned around.

Lloyd waited in Jim’s room, kneeling by the bed. Jim’s room always made him little nervous, with all the restraint points. He remembered waking up on this bed a little too clearly, back when he was terrified of Jim and didn’t know how lucky he was to have been rescued. It seemed so long ago but it wasn’t really.

Jim came in pretty soon after he got there. “There’s my good pet.” Jim walked up and stroked his cheek: he leaned into it. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Lloyd, but I’m glad I was there.”

“It was scary–Sebastian is scary.”

“I imagine it was, darling, and don’t fret about Sebastian; he’s quite tame.”

Lloyd shivered, “Holmes… Holmes said…”

“I’m sure he said all sorts of things. Undress and up on the bed, Angel.”

Lloyd got undressed and Jim showed him how to help put away Jim’s clothes, then he got up on the bed and waited. Jim got into the bed with him and pulled him in close.

“Sebastian is very good at hurting people, darling, but he’s not dangerous to you. I used him as a threat with Mycroft–against his brother and his PA–but, really, Sebastian’s only dangerous to people like Mycroft who hurt me, or people like that former employee, who betrayed me. Other than that, he just does what I tell him.”

“He’s huge!”

Jim smirked, “Well… yes.”

Lloyd blushed and Jim laughed, “I take Sebastian to bed all the time. Yes, he’s very big in every sense, but he still wouldn’t hurt you.” _He’d probably throw his hands up and walk off; you’re hardly a challenge or any fun._

“It hurt when they…” Lloyd flinched.

“Did you ever do things like that before Bennison?”

“Yes.”

“Did it hurt then?”

“I don’t think so; it’s hard to remember.”

Jim internally breathed a sigh of relief. _It hadn’t been that bad before, they’d just traumatized the hell out of him, but it meant he had some positive–or at least not negative–experiences lurking back there._ Jim chose his words very carefully.

“Listen to me, Lloyd,” Jim turned Lloyd to face him. “Haven’t I stopped EVERY time?”

Lloyd nodded.

“Do you trust me?”

Lloyd nodded again.

“I think you may really need to have sex, like you used to, and have it not hurt, or be forced on you, to get past what Bennison and his guards did to you. I won’t force you to do anything, but I wish you would try.” Jim changed his pitch and tone, “Now, how about a nice massage and then a shower? Hmmm?”

“C-can…” Lloyd stuttered.

“Yes?” _Yes? Come on, ask for it…_

“Can we try? Again? I mean, now?” Lloyd bit his lip.

“Yes, but only if you really want to.”

Lloyd nodded firmly, brave little mouse that he was.

Jim pulled him in closer and started out just holding him down tightly. By this point, Lloyd took comfort in that and didn’t struggle. Jim started working him up carefully, trying to figure out how to get past the panic that had interrupted them every time so far… and he smiled.

“Lloyd, pet, let me try something a bit different…”

“What?”

“Did they ever have you penetrate them?”

Lloyd laughed so hard he started choking, and then he lay there weakly gasping for air. Eventually, Jim had to sit him up and pat his back.

“I take it that’s a ‘no’?” Jim asked drily.

“Oh, God, no… Why would they let me…?”

“And I would bet they never let you be on top if they penetrated you?”

Lloyd just stared at him. “No, of course not!”

“How about we try it that way?” Jim asked him carefully, “You can control it and feel safe that way.”

“Are you joking?!” Lloyd spluttered, “I mean, aren’t you SCARED?”

 _Of YOU? Right, try not to laugh… “_ No, I’m not joking. As to scared, I let Sebastian be on top all the time and he’s a fair bit scarier.”

“You…” Lloyd’s eyes were as big as they could be without turning into an anime character. “You let... HIM?”

“Mmmm-hmmmm, sometimes. I take it Jeffries’ report didn’t get that far?”

“Aren’t you… I mean… Why would you let him? He works for you, right? What if he hurt you?”

“I own him,” Jim said as gently as he could, “just like I own you.” Lloyd nodded dubiously. “Sebastian was the one I went to after I escaped Mycroft–he could have hurt me then, very easily, but he didn’t.” _And I will never admit how worried I was about him slipping the leash then…_ “Why don’t we try you just being on top of me, so you can control it all, hmmm? Maye it wouldn’t be so scary if I was lying down on the bed and you were on top?”

Lloyd nodded.

“Let me hear you say it…”

“Green…?”

“Good boy.” Jim got out the lubrication and lay down on the bed. “Now, do you know how to prepare for that, or can you let me?”

“You do it… please.” Lloyd was shaking. Jim pulled him up on top of him; he looked exactly like a kid whose parents have put him on a pony for their birthday and who wasn’t sure if he wanted down or not. Jim coaxed him to move up and he started working on him with his mouth. It was an awkward angle, but it had the benefit of keeping Lloyd’s attention. Jim touched a finger to his ass and he jumped as if he was hit with a cattleprod…

“Lloyd, just focus on the front of you, okay?”

 _If his sphincter closed any tighter I was going to lose circulation in my finger!_ Jim redoubled his efforts with his tongue until Lloyd started to relax. It took an appalling length of time to work one finger in far enough, but then Jim found the right spot and flexed inside Lloyd… and almost got knocked out by Lloyd arching forward with a shout.

“Ow.” Jim rubbed his head where it had hit the bed’s headboard. “Now, that’s familiar…”

“What? What was… that felt… good?”

“It’s supposed to, honey. Can you get off me for a sec?” _Change of tactics. Gah, virgins and neurotic pets. I think I’ll go back to Tiger taming, it’s safer._

Jim walked Lloyd through the–apparently nerve wracking–process of thoroughly cleaning himself and got him back on the bed…

Lloyd lay on the bed shaking, tense, and utterly failing to relax, only to have his eyes pop open in shock... “What?” he squeaked.

Jim simply resumed using his tongue in a fashion that Lloyd had never, ever imagined. Sure, Jim had given him–incredible, wonderful, mind blowing–blow jobs, but he was LICKING… Jim’s tongue did something that Lloyd was certain he would never have imagined, ever.

Jim managed to get two fingers, well lubed, into Lloyd by the simple expedient of distracting him with a thorough rimming. By the time Lloyd stated tensing up again, he simply flexed his fingers and moved his tongue and Lloyd obligingly melted. Eventually…

“Alright, pet, come on up onto my lap.”

Lloyd, who was still apparently seeing stars, obligingly climbed into his lap. With Lloyd well lubricated, and well worked open, it wasn’t difficult at all to start. Lloyd had a moment’s panic at the sensation, but as Jim had suspected, being on top did wonders to help with that.

Eventually Lloyd was settled down on top of Jim, with Jim completely inside of him, and only breathing a bit rapidly. Jim made soothing noises at him and rubbed his back.

“It… this feels okay…”

 _With the amount of lubrication and the amount I worked you open, I’m shocked you can FEEL it._ “Of course, pet, didn’t I tell you? I won’t hurt you. Now you can choose to move or not, but at least you know it doesn’t have to hurt.”

Lloyd sat there for a while, occasionally moving slightly. Jim refrained from asking him to pass a book.

“Do you want to go any further? Or stop for now?”

“Can… Can we stop?”

“Honey, we can always stop. Haven’t I always stopped when you wanted?” Lloyd nodded. “We’ll stop, and we’ll have a bit of our usual fun, and then I have to get back to work, okay?”

Lloyd looked relieved. Jim helped him off and went down on him, and–MUCH to Jim’s shock–while they were in the shower cleaning up, Lloyd went down on him for the first time. He was surprisingly good at it, but, even if he’d been terrible, Jim would have petted him and praised him.

He saw Lloyd off to get back to his computer work, and went back down to see how Sebastian was getting on with his project.

“How are we–” Jim raised an eyebrow. “Oh, very nice job, Sebie!”

Sebastian smirked and padded over to Jim. “I think she’d be happy for a chance to talk to you, Sir.”

“I’m sure she would… Do you think you might be able to spare a bit of attention from her sooner rather than later, Sebastian?” Jim asked politely. _If he wanted to play with his new toy some more, I should let him._

Sebastian looked curiously at him. “Lloyd give you any trouble?”

“Oh, heavens, no–in fact, we made progress–but he’s awfully tame, Tiger. Bennison and his men took all the fight out of him, if he ever had any.” Jim glanced at the girl and smiled back at Sebastian. “How about if I add a few stripes to your collection and then you can stretch your claws into your new scratching post there.”

Sebastian’s eyes almost glittered and he nodded slowly.

~

Sometime later, as Jim watched Sebastian’s muscles flex against the restraints, he realized that he really owed Bennison a debt. Lloyd might never be exciting, but he was brilliant, and loyal, and–thanks to Bennison–he would have to be dragged away from Jim forcibly. _And,_ _even then, he’d never work for them the way he would for me._

Jim danced his fingers lightly over Sebastian, getting a moan of pleasure here, a groan of pain there…

_Yes, I definitely owe Bennison a favor…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Epilogue (next chapter, publishing in a few minutes) takes you a bit further into the future with Bennison.


	6. Epilogue: Bennison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About that debt...  
> (Jim considers that he owes Bennison a debt for "delivering" Loyd to him...

By the time Bennison was betrayed into Jim’s hands and interrogated, Lloyd Serdon was the head of Jim's computer staff; a pleasant, if unexciting, bed warmer; and a constant presence at his feet. He had also found several leaks in his organization that had somehow gone unnoticed. Lloyd hunted down leaks with the fervor that only someone desperately loyal–and afraid of his old bosses–could manage.

~

Jim sat in the room with Bennison as he woke up, coming up from the second round of drug fueled interrogation. “I know you won’t remember any of this, Oliver, but I wanted to thank you.”

“Wha?” Bennison blinked woozily, trying to focus through a head stuffed full of cotton.

“You and your men gave me the best present I could have asked for, really,” Jim said pleasantly.

“Present? What?” His mouth felt like something furry crawled into it and died. He was trying desperately to make sense of things.

“In fact, I’m so pleased that I won’t even torture you. I’ll let Mycroft do it.” Bennison started to struggle against the restraints.

Jim leaned over and kissed him gently on the forehead. “Don’t worry, he only understands pain so far. You’ll be his first lesson: it will just hurt a lot and then you’ll die–I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when you see Lloyd happily and eagerly assisting Jim (especially against Bennnison, Mycroft, and other "minor Government functionaries" ... now you know how he got there, and why...


End file.
